You will find lebara easy to get upon arrival in both the UK and France. I put my address in and did receive a Lebara card in the United States and others have also reported receiving the card. Under City, write your city, State and zip code. As I remember, that worked for the French card. The English card is so easy to get that I wouldn't bother.

I used the France website, switched to English. If I remember correctly, enter your city/town (space) USA in the "ville" field.

ID didn't used to be required. It's possible they are no longer shipped to USA.

Use this website:

www.lebara.fr

Fill out the form for a free SIM, in the city field put your US city and USA both on the same line. France will be in the country field but you will still receive the SIM you need in the USA. It takes about one week.

The lebara website says the sim card is only available to customers with a French residential address. So if it won't let you order one then if you scroll to the bottom of that same page it has a list of retailers where it is available. I know I plan to fly into CDG in a couple of weeks and the store Relay is on that list (which is also in the CDG airport) so I hope to be able to pick one up after landing at the airport. Maybe that is an option for you?

Another option if you want to have one before you leave is Cellular abroad which sells the Lebara card...but it seems a little expensive to me given that Lebara offers the card for free on their website.

http://www.cellularabroad.com/franceSIMcard.php

So if it won't let you order one

Sure it will. In spite of what the website says, Lebara will indeed send you a free SIM, even to the USA. I have done it myself twice.

What kind of person would order a Lebara SIM from Cellularabroad and pay $69.95 for what the rest of us receive for free?

It appear that they have changed to requirement on the lebara site to now require an ID[ license, passport, Identity card, birth certificate or residence card and appropriate number be provided.

I am almost positive that this was not required earlier this year when I applied and got my card.

Perhaps this is to assure that the cards only go to French residents.

I have a French Orange SIM that I bought while in Paris in June. Anyone who wants to use it can email me. I'll send it to you and you can top it up when you get there. You'll know the number before you leave.

lisaonkili at yahoo dot com

It "Might" let you order one, I actually ordered one on line for a past trip and it was shipped to the US, However when I tried to place an order for my upcoming trip (my old one had expired), it said I had met my max (even though it says the max is two and I have only ever order one).

I agree Sarastro that paying for something you can get free is not a great option...but then people pay extra for convenience and peace of mind all the time....otherwise why would people take a taxi when you can take public transportation for a lot less. Hopefully the directions given on the Lebara site will work...if not there is still my first suggestion to pick one up someplace like a Relay store at the airport after landing.

Not sure what airport you are flying into, but if it happens to be CDG Then below is a map of terminal 2A (arrivals) with the location of the relay store.

http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/Scripts/plans-interactifs/#/UK/CDG/T2A/T2A_P/boutiques/presse

Thank all of you for your amazingly prompt and accurate replies.

I managed to order two on the French site. After I entered birth date, passport number, etc., it still gave me problems with my phone number. It wanted another format, so I added a 011 in front of my area code (no spaces in the number), and wham it went through. I soon got an email from Lebara saying I would soon have my SIM cards. We will see, as I failed to add the USA on the address line.

I'll report back on my success.

Thanks again!

I ordered our Lebara cards about 2 weeks ago and they arrived one week later. I filled the order out as mentioned above with my city and USA on the same line. At first I was declined because I was sent cards last year for that trip but they arrived after we left so we couldn’t use them. I filled out the form again using my wife’s name but the same address info and within minutes an email arrived saying they were “in the mail”.

I just checked their site and the form now contains 2 lines asking for identification information which wasn’t there a few weeks ago; more about that later.

In earlier threads it was mentioned that during the registration process a security code would be sent to the phone, even when the phone was in the USA, that is needed to register. I got only text messages saying something like “welcome” when registering the SIMs. I then tried to set up the “My Lebara” account and that is when the forms asked me for the security code I thought I was supposed to get earlier. I gave up, thinking I would call the next day during office hours. The next day I began setting up the My Lebara account again and as I was, a text arrived on the phone with the code. The code is only good for 15 minutes so have the phone you are setting up for My Lebara on and loaded with their SIM at the time. The setup pre-filled the form with the information I had put in for the order. Since the city, state, USA, and zip were sort of wrong I attempted to manually fill them in. It didn’t like that. I unchecked the box and it reinserted the scrambled info and was happy. That is when I got to the questions about identification. I first put in my passport number but that was rejected. I then tried my California driver’s license number, which worked. I completed the My Lebara account adding my CapOne card for payment then loaded 20 Euros and everything worked. I repeated the process for my wife’s phone and we are now ready to leave for our month long trip on Wednesday.

If you read the User Manuel pdf they ask that you mail them a copy of the ID you used to register. I emailed them and they sent me a number to fax it in: 011 33 1 73 04 73 45.

If all of this is too much bother or it doesn’t work for you I found a site that sells the Lebara cards for $20 each (about 16 Euros, they are 10 when you get to France) preloaded with 7.50 Euros credit. The cards are shipped from North Carolina 1st class mail for $4.95 for 1 or 2 cards. Aerobile http://www.aerobile.com/eshop/france-lebara-simcard-with-credit-p-174.html

Can you get a Lebara SIM for free, in person in France without a French address? Or could we use the rental apartment's address? Where can they be purchased? What are the phone call rates for calls within France to French phone numbers?

We have used Roam Simple SIMs in the past, but Lebara seems to gave fans here, so I am interested.

You´re over-analyzing simple mobile phone service.

French law requires mobile phone providers to obtain identification from those establishing service. Unless you plan on curling up in a sleeping bag under Pont Neuf during your Paris stay, you have an address. Give them your hotel address, your apartment address, or any address you might want to give them. Lebara does not really care. The service you are requesting is pre paid anyway, they are not going to run a credit check on you. They are just fulfilling the government requirements.

Phone rates are changing constantly. Here are Lebara´s as of today:

* 0.01€ per minute to the USA plus a 0.15€ connection fee
* 0.00€ per minute to other Lebara numbers in France. That´s right, free
* 0.15€ per minute to other mobile phones in France plus a 0.15€ connection fee
* 0.15€ per minute to land lines in France plus a 0.15€ connection fee
* 0.15€ per minute to other mobile phones in France plus a 0.15€ connection fee

SMS (text) fees

* 0.10€ within France
* 0.15€ international

Low cost and ease of use is why Lebara is so popular among many of us who contribute to Fodors and travel to France often but in France, Lebara SIMs are only sold at magazine stores or tabacs.

OK, so I have the unlock code from Verizon for my phone. They said that I cannot unlock the phone until I am IN France. Is that true? It seems like folks insert their Lebara cards while still in US to top up the account.

I ordered a Lebara sim on its FR. website about 3 weeks ago.

After reading some of the knowledgeable accounts by Fodories in the week following, I decided to give up on the idea that it would be mailed to me here in the USA.

A few days later, it arrived (envelope stated air mail from the UK).

Since Lebara isn't active in the USA, I assume that I can't activate it until I land in CDG. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll go to Klieghj's airport store and buy another.

They said that I cannot unlock the phone until I am IN France. Is that true?

Not really true. What Verizon is probably referring to is that you cannot necessarily confirm that your phone is unlocked until it functions normally with a SIM, other than the Verizon SIM. Interestingly, Verizon uses the CDMA format which does not use SIMs.

Are you sure you have a GSM phone capable of operating on the 900/1800 mHz bands used in Europe?

I assume that I can't activate it until I land in CDG.

Your assumptions are incorrect.

Many of us have activated Lebara SIMs from the USA. The SIMs work perfectly well on the T-Mobile network. Just be sure your phone is capable of operating on the 850/1900 mHz bands used in North America (and Brazil).

If you have problems, you can try again in France. The Lebara help lines can offer you all of the assistance you need when in France but, the personal only speak French (unless you just happen to find someone who speaks English). Sometimes hotel staff can call for you to solve issues.

OK I did it!

My phone indeed is a quad band and has GSM capabilities.

I unlocked the phone. Changed it to GSM. Took out the Verizon SIM card. Inserted the Lebara SIM card. Activated the SIM card on Lebara site. Got the security code sent to the phone via text from Lebara to use to register for an account. Just waiting on an email to confirm the set up of my Lebara account.

Then the only thing will be that I can switch it back to Verizon! It is now showing T Mobile as service provider.

Thank you for the help thus far.

How does the "purchase" of a Lebara SIM at a Tabac work? Do you get the SIM itself at no cost--like the on-line purchase from the US--and buy some number of euros worth of use?

What is the advantage of buying it ahead of time before leaving the US?

Are they readily available for purchase outside Paris, for example when we arrive in Arles!

The only real advantage for me is that (hopefully) my phone will work in CDG as soon as I turn it on. That way I can call our landlord, as he has requested, to tell him when to meet us at the apartment. He manages a lot of apartments and would rather not wait around all afternoon if we get hung up at the airport.

Purchased Lebara SIMs cost 10€ which includes 7.50€ talk credit.

Lebara SIMs are not as widely available outside of Paris are they are within Paris. There is no huge advantage in having one sent to you other than knowing you have one and its number before you arrive in France.

In Arles, inexpensive telecommunication options will be much more limited. You can ask at Auchan, Carrefour, Géante, Intermarché, Centre Leclerc, or other such stores for SIMs as they usually have their in-house branded SIMS and plans which are usually much cheaper than SFR, Orange, or Bouygues.

DebitNM, your phone should go back to Verizon when you put their SIM card back in. Or maybe if you had to change from CDMA to GSM using a menu setting then you will need to undo that. If it is just a cell phone you might be able to leave the Lebara card in. If you have a smart phone then you need to put Verizon’s SIM back in. I have older Verizon phones that only operate on 900 & 1800 HZ with a GSM card so we just go into the menu while on the plane to switch over. Another thing you may want to do is have the calls to your Verizon number forwarded to your land line so you can retrieve the messages, we can get ours online. Oh, thank you for all the information you provided about the Andrews FCU chip & PIN cards. I have mine and will try it next week at a gas pump then post back if it works or not.

Sarastro, you have been so patient to keep reposting Lebara’s fees instead of just directing people to their website.

For anyone who does wants a Lebara SIM but finds the process too trying you can buy them for $20 plus somewhat reasonable shipping. $20 is only 16 Euro so that isn’t much worse than 10 Euro in France but not as good as free. See my post from earlier this morning. As Sarastro mentioned they are not readily available except in Paris and Relay shops at CDG. During a month in France last year I didn’t notice their decal many times.

Ok, so we have a late afternoon and evening in Paris beoire taking the train to Arles.

If we want to get two Lebara SIMs before leaving the US, how far in advance of departure should we use their website to request them? How long are they good for?

You are welcome, Fairfax re: Andrews FCU credit card. Good suggestion for the voicemail, but no land line (

I ordered my SIM cards from Lebara in the spring and I had no trouble getting it activated today.

The above is unclear to me.
My unlocked HTC phone and the mid-August SIM card is not yet activated.

To activate it, do I:
1) go online on my computer to set up a "my Lebara" account?
2) go online on my smartphone to set up a "my Lebara" account?
Do these two constitute "activation"?

If not, once I have a "my Lebara" account, what do I do?
The instructions (french) which came with the SIM say, "Activez maintenant votre ligne. Connectez voous sur www.lebara.fr/activation et remplissez le forumlaire en ligne." Google translate tells me that means "select your line. (whatever that means....nothing to me). Log on to w3etc and complete the form online."

It then sas I'll need THE number in the box at the bottom of the instructions (there are TWO, not ONE...votre numero de mobile XXXXX and votre numero de carte YYYY), my contact number, and my address.

What is my contact number? Is that in the new, unlocked phone, or is that the numero de mobile of the SIM as above?

I activated my SiM first, using my computer. The number they want is: voter número de mobile ( that is your actual phone number).

You cannot set up your Lebara account until the card is activated. One the card is activated, you can then set up your Lebara account. They will send you a text message with a security code that you need to complete the account set up.

So -
1. Unlock the phone, if needed.
2. Activate the SIM card.
2. Create "my Lebara" account.

Hope this helps

And you do rea
I've you can see the Lebara website in English, don't you? Upper right hand corner, near the shopping cart - it says "Francais" click it to make it English.

Sorry, iPad issues. That should say, "you do realize you can see...."

now i'm in a pickle
i'm on the computer, half way thru activating,
it has activated the phone
now i'm trying to get a 'my lebara' account
i put in address, #, e-mail, etc.
now it says "we have sent you a code by SMS

but the first message Lebara sent upon activation was that, "SMS indisponible" or, SMS unavailable

how do I enter a number I can't get because they sent it to a number that can't receive it?

it says it sent an email with the pin, but it has not as yet arrived in my hotmail account.

Do you have the Lebara SIM card in the phone?

When I put the Lebara SIM in my phone, my phone went from being a Verizon to a T Mobile. Did you set the phone to GSM Mode? It took a few minutes for the text to come.

it has activated the phone

Specifically what does this mean?

If your phone is activated, the required first step, then try this website to charge your phone:

http://help.lebara.fr/#tab:homeTab:crumb:7:artId:1332:src:article

Otherwise, if you are unsuccessful, it may be prudent to wait until you are in France to complete the charging process.

The email also took a few minutes. Check your spam folder.

The email contains a link that you click to confirm the "my Lebara" account.

There is no pin, at least I didn't have anything mentioning a pin

I would not top up or add € to the phone until just before you leave for France. € 10 expires in 30 days, € 20 in 45 days.per the site

OK
I leave Tuesday, but I think I'll wait til I'm there to add $


But this 'my lebara account' thing has me stumped

You don't really need it, I think it's really useful for those using it on a regular, long term basis.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I ordered two Lebara SIM cards on September 1st. They arrived today, and I will have the delightful task tomorrow of sorting through all of the (sometimes) conflicting advice you have been so generous to give.

I'll let you know how it goes ---------- if I don't slit my wrists in frustration.

nukesafe - Make sure you activate each SIM before attempting to top it off with credit. You should be able to do this from the USA using the Lebara website by opening a new account and registering the new phone numbers. I use www.lebara.fr (it is of course in French).

You should also be able to top off your new SIM from the same website. If you have difficulties, you can try this site:

http://help.lebara.fr/#tab:homeTab:crumb:7:artId:1332:src:article

If all else fails, and hopefully it will not, you can always register your phone in France or always purchase a recharge ticket, from any magazine store or tabac. Call the recharge number,(I think it is 2323), follow the instructions and input the recharge numbers found on the ticket you just purchased.

Let us know how the works for you.

Well, I ordered a Lebara card before leaving for France (where I am now), and it arrived at my U.S. address 4 days later (amusingly enough, with my address noted as "Washington, DC, France" on the envelope.). HOWEVER, when we arrived at CDG and went to the Relay, they said they couldn't add any minutes to the card (and it only comes with a very few), so we ended up buying SFR SIM cards, which worked fine until we'd been in France for 15 days. There's a French law now that says that you have to identify yourself as the owner of a French cell phone/SIM within 15 days of purchasing a SIM...OK, but the SFR website wouldn't allow us to do that, nor could be use the mots de passe that SFR sent us on the cells, and we ended up spending 2 hours at the cell phone store in Le Bugue getting help from an amazingly patient woman who called SFR for us and bemoaned the whole process. I imagine Lebara falls under the same French law, so be forewarned about that, and also that the Relay stores, at least in Terminal 2 in Roissy, cannot top up your SIMs when you arrive in France, or at least they could not for us.

SFR may be more expensive than Lebara; I'm not sure. But their service is really easy to use and the calls are cheap and very clear. At least, until you leave your cell phone out in the garden and go off to bed and there's a huge rainstorm overnight. But the whole business with having to register yourself under some loi ministirielle is one of those things that just requires a lot of time and effort, even if you speak the language. If you don't, I can't see how you could manage it without some serious assistance.

French law requires that all mobile phones be registered to a name and an address. This requirement is not provider specific, all SIMs must be registered.

Relay does not top up phones, the owner does that by dialing 2323 and following the instructions. Topping up or adding talk time is simply a matter of purchasing the desired credit (I have purchased credit at Relay) which is usually sold in the form a a ticket with a series of numbers on it. The user calls the recharge number and enters the code. That's it.

SFR is significantly more expensive than is Lebara. For example SFR has special pricing for calls to other SFR phones. For a 5€ monthly fee, you can make SFR to SFR calls for only .30€ per minute. Lebara to Lebara calls are free.

SFR charges 1.55€ per minute for calls to the USA, Lebara is 0.01€ per minute with a 0.15€ connect fee.

"Topping up or adding talk time is simply a matter of purchasing the desired credit (I have purchased credit at Relay) which is usually sold in the form a a ticket with a series of numbers on it. The user calls the recharge number and enters the code. That's it."

Relay did not have any such tickets. I know about that, speak French, and inquired. They said it was not possible. They had no Lebara tickets, only Orange and SFR.

Our SFR cards are charging .02 cents (euro) for calls within France. We're not using them to call the USA, so I don't know what the charges are for that. We put 15 euros each on our cards when we purchased them, have made a zillion calls since being here, and have 8+ euros left on each after almost 3 weeks.

Could someone pls tell me when I should register and load the card if I am traveling in December? If I register when I get the card (say in 2 weeks), am I able to wait until december to add funds to the card since I've read the funds expire rather quickly (10 Eu in 20 days..etc.) Any advice is greatly appreciated

I got my card in April and registered it in mid-September. I could not recharge it/add time to it online. I simply went into a neighborhood tabac, paid 10€ and got a receipt with a code to use when I called on the phone (I guess you don't need any time on the phone to call in, must be free). Easy to do and the phone works great.

Don't register it until you're ready to use it. You can order it any time in advance, but realize it can take some time to be mailed to you (though mine came in about 5 days).

Thanks for the assistance debitnm/stcirq - much appreciated!

Just to bring you up to date with my misadventures with Lebara SIMs, I screwed up the free Sims I sent off for before I left. I took my two cheapo GSM phones along with me to Paris and began looking for Lebara logos in the windows of Tabacs and magazine/news store windows near our apartment in the 11th. I found that many of them would recharge the SIMs, but did not sell the cards themselves.

Finally, I noticed a phone store that said " Tout Markes" on the sign. The did not have the Lebara logo displayed, but happily sold me two SIMS. They asked to see some ID, and asked for an address. I gave them the address of our apartment, but I could have just as easily pick an address at random. They didn't care; just another stupid Government regulation that requires a scribble on a line in q form.

The cards are working just fine, BTW.

On our recent trip, I couldn't seem to buy more Lebara time online once in France. Primarily because I couldn't set up a "My Lebara" account from the USA, which one needs to get more time online once in France. Also, the way they offer to do it over the phone involves dialing 2323, which gets you to Lebara, with a recorded phone-tree message....in French.
Which I dialed 4 times and hung up, after asking the phone-tree software for an English speaker. Near the end of our trip, I tried again and pushed 1; I got someone, and tried my pigeon-French, asking if he spoke Anglais. In barely accented English, he replied yes, and after a few words, switched the account to English so that when I next dialed 2323, it would give me an English recorded message. He also said that, once in France, one could not set up a "My Lebara" account using a non-French credit card. Sounded like Catch 22.22.22 to me, but at the time I had larger fish to fry.
As it turned out, the 10 euro top-off I bought at CDG had something like 1 minute 5 seconds left when we returned to the US, so I never needed to top it off.
But a word to the wise for those more talkative than I; be TOTALLY aware of how to use the system before you arrive, not merely assuming things would work out as I did.

nukesafe - I had the same experience trying to get a Lebara SIM after arriving in France. Every place said they could recharge but didn't sell the SIMs. Just curious, what did you actually end up with? What was the cost? I ended up throwing myself on the mercy of a friendly Phone House person who set me up with something for €20 that covered our 3-week stay and a few local calls. Good to know that any French address would work.

Cost me 15 Euros for each card, which included 7.50 Euros talk time, MaineGG. I know the ads say you can get them for 10 Euros, but at that point I was not about to quibble.

Damned glad I got them, as my DW bought something today that required shipping, and FedEx had to call her to straighten out some details. If I did not have a number to give them we might never have seen our goods.

Does the Lebara sim permit data access as well? I mean, may I browse the web and use android apps like RATP (french transp. site for the train/metro system)or does it just permit calls? Does anyone have experience with the data side of things? Thanks in advance.

The Lebara sim is for voice(phone calls) only. You would need a data plan to use Internet. I have not been able to use free wifi on my phone out and about, seems like they want to be able to send a verification code before you can use it. With no data plan ,no texts!!
I have the RATP app downloaded on phone and can use the metro maps ok.

Thanks, DebitNM. Oh no...no texts..Is there any card that includes sms? I wonder...

Bookmarking for future reference.

I am going to India for two weeks before I go to French. Can I set up the Lebara chip from there? TIA

What do you mean set up? If you have the SIM card you can set it up from home in US (activate it).

As far as putting money on it, I have not been able to do so while in US. First trip using it, I simply went into a tabac in Nice and paid for 10€ credit, got a receipt with a code on it and then entered the code using instructions on the receipt.

This trip, I was able to recharge online using my US VISA card , which I could not do last year. BUT I did it while I was already in France. Not sure if it was physically being in France or if things changed that allowed me to use my Visa card.

As far as using the SIM card, I simply swap it out when I arrive in France and am set to go

Just topping this with updated info: I ordered a Lebara from Amazon for $29.95 (includes 7.5 euros of airtime) because I was concerned that the free one wouldn't get here before my trip.

http://www.amazon.com/Lebara-France-Prepaid-Europe-minute/dp/B00ADSPEQ4

I received it overnight from Amazon prime and am in the process of registering it online. It absolutely does include texts (incoming are free.)

As I think I mentioned in another thread, I would never pay Amazon $29.95 instead of nothing just because the Lebara sim wouldn't arrive before I left, unless I absolutely had to walk off the plane with a working phone. All you have to do is buy one when you arrive at the airport. Maybe crosscheck had to have a working phone immediately upon arrival.

FYI I ordered the free Lebara sim card but it is not the micro sim which is required for iPhone 5. I will see if I can get it in Paris.

<Maybe crosscheck had to have a working phone immediately upon arrival.>

Correct - I needed to know my number in advance. The Amazon price is actually $19.95, since it includes $10 worth of calls. Well worth it for peace of mind.

(Plus, I'm not really concerned about a budget on this last-minute holiday because my whole trip is FREE - using miles, staying first with friends, then with Mr. Crosscheck, who will be there for work and presumably sharing his per diem with me.)

Free trip is always good!